COVID-19 Update: The Importance of Using Videos to Reach Customers

Part 1: Tools Available Right Now to Help Dealers Create Video Engagement

Dealers recognized before this pandemic, the importance of using video strategies as a marketing tool. How many dealers use those videos is quickly transitioning, however, during these times of temporary shutdowns. Digital videos are how students are learning from home, how employers are following up with employees, and how businesses are maintaining a connection with their customers. If your dealership is not allowed to sell right now, you could be leveraging videos as a connection strategy with service customers. If you are able to sell, albeit in a remote capacity, you can be sourcing videos for both sales and service customer engagement.

How One Florida Dealership Is Engaging with Video

Brickell Buick-GMC in Miami, Florida, uses videos to help promote its new pickup and delivery methods for its service department. This GM retailer isn’t just using social media to post about being available for its customers. The team is creating and posting a series of videos to demonstrate each phase of the customer journey. For example, one video shows how a customer would go about scheduling their appointment and service pickup. Another video explains how the service technicians sanitize each vehicle and disinfect common areas before returning the car to the owner. The store’s General Manager, Mario Diaz, says their videos have almost 50,000 views.

Video Creation Tools to Help Dealers Get Started

There are video creation tools available to help dealers who may be unsure or unfamiliar with where to begin. Embracing this video necessity now can help your dealership prepare for what Dave Cantin calls “the new normal post-COVID-19.” Listen to the Dealer News Today podcast with Dave Cantin and forward-leaning president and CEO of Boch Enterprises, Ernie Boch Jr. discuss the importance of changing for a new environment.

Brickell Buick-GMC uses a digital product created by Digital Air Strike, a tech company that tailors products for dealership operations. It’s called Video Logix, and the company introduced it at the NADA Show this year. It offers a template that allows dealers to personalize video messages for customers. Video Logix comes within a suite of products, like chat tools and text messaging.

Dealer.com also created video templates that can help dealers customize their messaging to potential car buyers or service customers. The company strongly suggests that in support of posting videos, dealers can be doing basic, smartphone clips from their stores to create a more organic and authentic approach to messaging. Having the general manager make a video with a community-driven message can be a great place to start. Service managers can use videos to demonstrate how their technicians disinfect vehicles.

Also introduced at this year’s NADA Show, Cars.com has a digital video marketing tool that many dealers are exploring now. Executive Vice President of Cars.com, Dean Evans, says they’re hearing from dealers who are currently using more videos to get the word out about virtual service and sales options. What used to be a good idea to connect with customers, is now becoming the only way to engage, as the mission has shifted to keeping everyone safe. The Cars.com Fuel In-Market Video product will help dealers target their markets by casting a wider net.

The Social Media Platforms Dealers Should Be Leveraging

Cox Automotive’s Senior Product Manager of video, Jon Torrey, says dealers should consider using videos to deliver messages to customers. Consumers may be feeling vulnerable or uncertain about what they can or can’t do right now. Dealers connecting with social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, can reach that local audience. Because the dealerships can’t have an in-person conversation, the video conversation can be the next best thing.

Follow up tomorrow for Part 2 of this digital marketing strategy session. We’ll explore how to go about creating a compelling messaging strategy with videos, including the all-important vehicle walkarounds.